The Biggest Loser: Washington Supreme Court Edition

State Senator Mike Baumgartner (R-Spokane) introduced a bill (SB6088) on January 15th that would put the Washington Supreme Court on a drastic diet effectively reducing the size of the Court from 9 justices to 7. Critics say that the measure ,which was shortly followed by two more bills introduced by Baumgartner and aimed squarely at the Court , was a tit for tat reaction to the WA Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling in the McCleary decsion that the legislature is not properly funding K-3 education. Baumgartner feels that the Court is overstepping its bounds and intruding on the legislature’s authority. One of the other subsequent bills that Baumgartner introduced (SB 6568 ) would require the state Supreme Court to stop slacking and pick up the pace on hearing case. For more information see John Stang’s article on crosscut.com.